Thursday, June 26, 2014

Thursday Thoughts: Freedom to Explore

I recently went on a spiritual retreat. I went to a small country town just outside of the city I live in. I spent two days and one night at a convent and had a surprising and meaningful experience.

I live in a city of about 250,000 people and I grew up in a small town of 10,000 people. Normally the size of my city doesn't bother me, but the other day it did. I recall exclaiming to my husband:

"There is no where to go where there is no one!"

So after discussing it with him and God, I decided to go on a spiritual retreat, just me and God. I didn't know much about what I wanted from it, just alone time with God. I did however know that I didn't want an ocean. I'm from the country (although I'm not a farm girl by any means) and I wanted space, land not water in front of me. God answered my prayers!

View from balcony near my room

It was a very relaxing two days and I discovered something God has been trying to tell me for a while: He is here - in everything I'm doing. I want my heart to reflect His heart and when I realise he is here with me enjoying life with me, then my heart is reflecting His heart.

Something else God pointed out to me: He wants me to have the freedom to explore with Jesus. Explore with Him, take him along on whatever adventures unfold around me.

One of my most joyous experiences was taking my camera around and taking photos, experimenting with the cameras features! I had so much fun doing that. I'm no photographer, but I was filled with joy just exploring this huge place and snapping shots.

Here are some of my experiment photos :

A place to sit and think

A eerie take on the courtyard

Pink roses

Walkway captured

As I said I'm no photographer, but what joy it was to just have fun with the experience!

Jess' favourite genre is contemporary women's fiction and contemporary romance fiction. She also enjoys historical fiction with a focus on romance. She loves books set in country towns or farms with a cowboy featured in either historical or contemporary settings.

She is currently writing her first novel, a contemporary women's fiction/romance set in a small country town.

2 comments:

Beautiful pictures, Jess! In this fast-paced world, its easy to zoom past the details God wants to share with us. So glad you were able to savor the moment and the richness of God's goodness. Bless you!